


Creating Traditions

by thisfairytalegonebad



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Gen, Valentine's Day Fluff, can be read as polyship, platonic valentine's day, pre-game
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:08:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29413893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisfairytalegonebad/pseuds/thisfairytalegonebad
Summary: It's Prompto who starts the tradition, but the others join in soon enough.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia & Prompto Argentum & Noctis Lucis Caelum & Ignis Scientia
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Creating Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo, I thought I'd write a little something for Valentine's Day, and since this was brought to you by yours truly, this is of course platonic stuff. That said, you can totally read this as polyship if you want, I vibe with that too!
> 
> This somehow ended up being from Noct's perspective even though I have trouble writing him, idk how that happened lmao.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Unsurprisingly, it’s Prompto who starts the tradition in the very first year of their friendship.

Noct sits at his desk trying not to fall asleep as he listens to his classmates’ excited chatter. Chocolates this, card that, oh, and an anonymous love letter? How exciting!

Noct doesn’t really see the appeal of the holiday, but if his classmates enjoy it, well, he’s not going to judge. Well, maybe a little, but only because they’re being so loud about it so early in the morning, _gods_.

Prompto plopping into his seat next to Noct is a welcome sight, even though Prompto, too, immediately starts chattering. But Noct doesn’t mind as much when it’s Prompto, even if it _is_ at a truly inhumane hour.

“Here!” Prompto says, shoving a colourful box into Noct’s hands. “I didn’t know what you like, so I got you a box with a bunch of different ones.”

Bewildered, Noct stares at the box.

Chocolates?

“Uh. Thanks. I didn’t get you anything…” he says, feeling the tip of his ears going red with embarrassment. But damn, how was he supposed to know Prompto was going to hand him a box of chocolates? Had he known, of _course_ he’d have gotten something for Prompto too.

“Oh, it’s okay! I just wanted to give them to you, don’t worry about it!”

Prompto grins brightly, and it really doesn’t seem like he minds that Noct didn’t get him anything, but Noct still feels bad about it.

He also feels like he should say something more about Prompto’s gift, but he can’t think of anything that doesn’t sound super lame. Luckily, their teacher saves him by entering the classroom and Prompto turns his attention to the front.

Noct looks at the box again and smiles a little before he slides it into his backpack.

Of course, he’s not allowed to eat chocolates some random kid gives him, even if that kid is Prompto. He knows he has to throw them out as soon as he gets home, but the next day, he still makes sure to tell Prompto how good they are.

The delighted expression on Prompto’s face only adds to Noct’s determination to return the favour next time.

* * *

The next year, Prompto’s been thoroughly background checked and ultimately approved of and deemed safe, so this time Noct is actually able to eat the chocolates Prompto gives him. It’s the same brand as last year, only the colours of the box had been changed from obnoxiously red and pink to obnoxiously pink and purple, complete with hearts and everything, so he gets to try what he missed out on last year.

He also gets to pull out a gift of his own: chocolates made by the Citadel kitchen staff with only the finest ingredients, or so he’d been told, anyway. He could have asked Ignis, but it would’ve been too embarrassing having to explain just what he needed the chocolates for. The kitchen staff on the other hand, whilst barely hiding their knowing grins, didn’t pester him for more information, which he was very grateful for.

When he hands Prompto the box, he’s amazed to see Prompto’s entire face turn a shade of red he’s never seen on him before; he didn’t even know it was possible for a human to blush like that. 

“Dude!” Prompto hisses at him, “You didn’t need to give me anything!”

“I know,” Noct shrugs, “But I wanted to. It’s only fair.”

When he gets home, he eats half the box in one go and saves the rest. This time, he’s entirely truthful when he tells Prompto he liked them.

* * *

A year later, Prompto has an idea.

“We should give Iggy and Gladio something.”

“Hm?” Noct briefly looks up from his phone, cursing when his character dies a few seconds later. “Why?”

Prompto shrugs. “We give each other chocolates because we’re friends, but they’re our friends too. I think it’d be nice.”

Noct thinks about it for a second then nods. “Yeah, you’re right. But we can’t give Specs a box of supermarket chocolates. Some guy who tried to woo him gave him a box of those one year, he absolutely hated them.”

Prompto slumps into the couch, dejected. “Aww, that sucks.”

“Maybe we could make something,” Noct suggests instead, because he does like the idea of giving something to Gladio and Specs.

Prompto stares at him as if he’d grown a second head. “Dude, you just said how high his standards are, you really think we can make something he likes?”

“I think it’s different when it’s something we make. He’ll like it just because we made it ourselves. If we pick something easy, chances are he might even like the taste. And then we just make an extra batch and give the same thing to Gladio.”

Perking up at that, Prompto starts scrolling through his phone. “I think I have an idea. It’s really easy, we practically can’t mess it up.”

Noct listens to Prompto’s plan and agrees that they can probably pull it off, so they set out to the supermarket to buy the necessary ingredients.

Once they’re back in Noct’s kitchen, they get to work, melting down chocolate then pouring cornflakes into them. The little piles of chocolate-covered cornflakes that sit on the tray when they’re done don’t look all that pretty, but Noct thinks they turned out alright. At any rate, he’s confident Ignis and Gladio will like them. 

“Great idea you had there,” he tells Prompto, popping one of the chocolates into his mouth.

Prompto slaps his hand away when he tries to take another. “At least wait until they’re dry!”

Noct rolls his eyes. “Starting to sound like Specs,” he mutters but leaves the chocolates alone.

Once they’re dry, he steals another and distributes the rest into two little bags. Dark chocolate ones for Ignis, milk and white for Gladio.

For the next few days, they sit in Noct’s bedroom, hidden from Ignis’ eyes, until the holiday comes and Prompto and Noct hand the bags to Gladio and Ignis.

Ignis blinks in surprise, looking from the bag to Noct and Prompto. “You made these?”

Prompto nods proudly. “Yeah!”

“Aww, you two,” Gladio says, pulling them both into a rough embrace.

Ignis, too, hugs them tight and gives each of them a kiss on the forehead, and Prompto’s head goes yet another completely new shade of red.

But Noct, too, is feeling a little too warm for his taste so he doesn't even make fun of him and instead just quickly stalks back to the couch and flops into it, pretending to have lost all interest in any chocolate-related things. He doesn't think anyone believes him, but hey, one can try.

* * *

By the fourth year, it’s a tradition that is set in stone. Noct and Prompto make chocolates for Ignis and Gladio, and Noct has the Citadel kitchen staff make some exclusively for Prompto. Except this year, he asks to help preparing them- he liked being able to give something hand-made to Ignis and Gladio, and he thinks it’d be nice to have a hand in Prompto’s gift as well.

Instead of exchanging their boxes at school like the previous years, they make it a group hangout where they all meet at Noct’s apartment for dinner. Ignis, of course, went all out, gifting gorgeous treats tailored to fit each recipient’s taste perfectly, along with personalized cards that had the most atrocious of puns on them. Noct groans loudly when he reads his, the other two don’t have much better reactions, and Ignis looks so damn pleased with himself.

(On Noct’s card, there’s a fish hook on the cover and the text says “I’m hooked!” And because that’s apparently not yet terrible enough, Ignis doodled a little fish on the inside and wrote “I think you’re fin-tastic.” Noct isn’t sure he even wants to know what the others’ cards say.)

Gladio is uncharacteristically fidgety when he pulls out his own gifts and hands them each an identical little box. It’s too small to be a bunch of chocolates, so Noct is pretty curious.

He lifts the lid and blinks in surprise when he discovers a really nice leather bracelet with a small silver fish charm attached to it.

Looking around, he sees that Ignis and Prompto received the same thing, each with a charm to represent them: a camera for Prompto, and a dagger for Ignis.

Still a little stunned, Noct slips it onto his wrist, pleased by how soft the leather is and how nicely it fits. 

“Thanks, Gladio,” he says, his voice a little rough for his liking. 

“Yeah, thanks, dude!” Prompto repeats leaning into Gladio for a moment before pulling back. “This is so cool!”

Gladio rubs the back of his neck with one hand and grins sheepishly. “Glad you like them.”

“They are beautiful,” Ignis agrees. “I do hope you got one for yourself as well, though.”

“Of course.” Gladio lifts his arm to show them his own bracelet with a little book charm dangling from it. “I thought it’d be nice if we all had one.”

For the rest of the night, the mood is kind of… soft, almost sappy, but Noct can’t say he minds. It’s nice, he thinks. It’s really, really nice.

* * *

When they’re on the road, they all have more important things to worry about than silly holidays, so Gladio is met with collective surprise when he marches out of the gas station with three boxes of discounted chocolates piled in his arms.

“Traditions are traditions,” he announces, shoving a box into Noct’s hands and distributing the remaining two in a similar fashion.

Noct grins and tries not to look emotional even though he’s definitely feeling a little emotional. “Thanks, Gladio.”

Over the course of the day, each of them finds a little something to gift to the others, and when it grows dark and they’re sitting around the fire, Noct eats shitty gas station chocolates, fiddles with his bracelet, and listens to Prompto narrate the photos he’s taken today.

And he thinks that, even though things are really damn hard right now, even though his father is dead and Insomnia has fallen and they’ve been on the road for what feels like ages... through all this he’s still so very lucky to have his friends.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk if the cornflakes chocolates are a thing in other countries but they're one of my favourite things, they're super easy to make, are great gifts and I could honestly just eat them all day.
> 
> On Gladio's card there's probably a pun to do with hiking/camping/the outdoors, in my mind I went with "You are tree-mendous." Prompto's has either photography or a chocobo pun, if you have any, please let's hear them lmao.
> 
> And uhhh, yes the boys have friendship bracelets now sorry I don't make the rules. As for the charm on Iggy's, I didn't want to make it anything to do with cooking because he canonically doesn't particularly enjoy cooking but does so out of duty, so I chose the dagger to represent him instead because that's a better fit imo (and also, I really just have a thing for daggers).
> 
> This whole thing is very sappy and very silly but I had a good time writing it so I hope you also liked reading it!
> 
> Drop by my Twitter (@Butterfly_OnIce) or my Tumblr (thisfairytalegonebad) if you wanna chat! Have a great day!


End file.
